Ahri
Build Guide by Apfeljack

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Introduction

Thank you for making this guide a Featured Guide on MOBAFire!

____Hello, I'm Apfeljack. I have been maining Ahri ever since she was released and I absolutely love playing her - I'm sure you will, too!

____This guide is not just another standard AP carry build copied and pasted onto Ahri.
A lot of thought, calculations and experiments were put into the item choices and they get the best out of our favorite Fox Lady!

____IMPORTANT: You shouldn't follow the build seen on the cheat sheet blindly, because it often proves to be better to make situational changes to it (mainly depending on team setups and how well your enemy is doing).
By the time you've mastered Ahri you should be able to make the right decisions for item purchase and skilling order. Adapting to given situations makes a huge difference!

____ Good luck and

Have fun!

Pros and Cons

_____

Pros

+ Good cleanup champ / kill securer+ Good tower-diver+ Has one of the best CC skills of all AP casters+ Great escape mechanisms+ Strong in all game phases, rocks late game

9 x greater seal of vitality
HP/level seals add a big amount of health. They are especially good on Ahri because her ultimate Spirit Rush can expose her to unfriendly fire in fights and these runes will help her survive it.

_

9 x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
I pick magic resistance glyphs instead of AP glyphs because Ahri's skills don't scale well enough with AP for the AP glyphs to pay off. Flat magic resistance is a much stronger pick because they reduce the incoming damage from your enemy while Ahri's skills still deal a lot of damage because of their high base damage.

greater seal of replenishment____Many people like these and, yes, Ahri runs out of mana quickly at early levels if you play aggressively. Personally, I don't like them much.
You will notice that your mana problems are gone once you've bought your Doran's Ring(s), which are cheap and provide a lot more mana regen than these runes.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed____I believe that utility is sometimes underrated but more movement speed can aid certain playstyles. If you like to kite and roam a lot, then these are amazing.

Masteries

Masteries

1/1

3/4

4/3

1/1

3/1

4/3

4/1

1/1

1/1

3/3

1/3

3/1

1/3

Investing 21 points in the offense tree (picking the masteries useful for AP carries) is a good choice for Ahri.
The remaining 9 points go into the utility tree for some great enhancements to your build.

Some explanations

Additional 3 AD from Brute Force make farming a lot easier for you. It's better to have a higher creep score instead of a tiny additional 3 AP (from Mental Force ). I also take Brute Force instead of Butcher because basic attacks are part of my early game harass.

Summoner Spells

Recommended

Ignite deals damage over time, so it's great to drop onto a fleeing opponent on low health because it will kill them even when they're already out of reach. This is how most people use Ignite but for Ahri, I'd use this spell a bit sooner.

Because of the mastery Summoner's Wrath we always have an additional 5 AP while Ignite is on cooldown. So instead of using Ignite as your last ace up your sleeve, use it as a part of our spell combo.

Even though Spirit Rush consists of three dashes, the dashing distance is sometimes too short to escape. An additional Flash can be your last way out.

Sometimes Flash is also needed to get out of turret range after you've tower dived with Spirit Rush.

It even works offensively. Flash first to close the gap and then chase them down with Spirit Rush so more damaging bolts will hit the enemies.

Alternatives

Cleanse is a good summoner spell because it can help you escape situations in which even Spirit Rush is useless because of CC. I'd only recommend this to players who have good reaction and executional skills and who are doing good at playing without Ignite as an additional damage source.

The only problem with Essence Theft is, that you are forced to push your lane when charging Essence Theft with one of your skills. That's why you need to do this wisely and hit only a few minions unless you're intending to push the lane.

When Essence Theft has nine charges, Ahri's orb turns green and your next spell will have an additional 35% Spell Vamp.

Multi-target spells like Orb of Deception only heal one third of the dealt damage while single target-spells like Fox-Fire heal with 100% of your current spell vamp.
Use Orb of Deception for spell-vamping a minion wave and Fox-Fire for a single target (e.g. enemy champion).

Champion Skill: Orb of Deception

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Orb of Deception - (Active Q) - Ahri sends out an orb in a line in front of her and then pulls it back, dealing magic damage on the way out and true damage on the way back.

____Cooldown: 7 seconds____Range: 880

This is her main damage skill and a great harass tool.
The true damage output on its way back is amazing, so always try to make it hit!

Don't forget that Orb of Deception can push your lane if it passes through a minion wave. When the enemy champion stands behind their minions, it will be hard to avoid damaging their minions. Still, always try to hit as few minions as possible when you're not intending to push your lane so you won't be as vulnerable to ganks.

Orb of Deception's long rage makes it possible to harass the opponent under their tower without taking any turret damage.
Cast your spell and instantly back off after its first hit to get out of turret range before it can damage you.
Don't forget that it only works when your minions are tanking the tower before you initiate.

Champion Skill: Fox-Fire

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Fox-Fire - (Active W) - Ahri releases three fox-fires to surround her for up to 5 seconds. After a short delay after cast, they will target nearby enemies, prioritizing champions, to deal magic damage to them. Additional fox-fires that hit the same target will only deal 50% damage.

____Cost: 60 mana____Range: 800

This skill deals a nice amount of damage but is a bit trickier to use since you can't directly control the flames.
The spell's flames attack your enemies one after another (with a tiny delay in between).

Every Fox-Fire flame has its own range so that one flame will always be closer to your target than the other two flames. While one flame will damage your desired target, the other two flames could lock onto a different target if that one's closer within their own range.

Each circle shows each Fox-Fire flame's individual range.
If the enemy stands in the clear area, all three fires will hit them. If they stand in one of the other areas, only 1-2 flames will hit them.

In a nutshell: Stand close to your target to make sure that all three Fox-Fire flames hit - and don't forget that this can sometimes be risky for you.

This spell is great in combination with Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Every single flame counts as a single target spell = 35% slow per flame = great CC effect! It can save your butt when you have to escape without Spirit Rush or Flash available.

Champion Skill: Charm

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Charm - (Active E) - Ahri will blow a kiss that travels in a line in front of her. It will deal magic damage and charm the first enemy it encounters, forcing them to walk harmlessly towards her, while being slowed by 50% for the duration.

____Cooldown: 12 seconds____Range: 975

Charm is most likely one of the best CC spells in the entire game (a ranged stun/lure and slow!) and is the reason why Ahri is so deadly.

When there are no obstacles in the way, initiate with Charm and drop your skill combo onto the poor victim. Disabling your opponent with Charm opens a time window of 1-2 seconds for you to burst and leave them at less than 50% health - often resulting in certain death for squishy champions.

It's also great to keep your enemy away while running. Cast Charm to slow them.

Charm can also be used to lure an enemy out of a brush - but this needs either a good knowledge of where exactly the enemy hides or luck.

In team fights, use Charm as often as possible! It will allow your team to steamroll Charmed enemies in seconds.[/indent]

Ultimate: Spirit Rush

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Spirit Rush - (Active R / Ultimate) - Ahri dashes towards the cursor and fires essence bolts, dealing magic damage to up to 3 nearby enemies, prioritizing champions. In the next 10 seconds, Spirit Rush can be cast two additional times before going on cooldown. Each enemy can only be hit once per dash.

____Cost: 100 mana____Range: 450

Ahri's ultimate is what makes her an excellent assassin, tower-diver, chaser and kill securer. It's also good for escaping and pissing the enemy off.

After you've harassed your enemy down to critical health, use Spirit Rush as a finishing blow before they can escape. You should treat this skill like your last ace up your sleeve but don't hold it back too much.
If Spirit Rush will certainly kill your opponent while your other skills wouldn't - use it!

Sometimes, it's hard to initiate with Charm when your enemy is hiding behind their minions.
When you're having trouble reducing their life like this, try to initiate with Spirit Rush, jump over the minions and mix in Fox-Fire between your dashes. Normally, this will get you close enough to Charm and finish them.
It's risky to initiate with Spirit Rush though, because you'll have to depend on your basic spells to do the rest of the job. You'll also have to pray that no one will come to gank you while your ult is on cooldown.

Of course, you can also use the dashes to escape.
You can jump over walls with Spirit Rush to catch enemies (and Charm them) on the other side or to get away from them. It works just like Flash.

Spirit Rush has three dashes and each dash has three damaging bolts coming off. Each of them count as a single target-spell: Not only do they return 100% of your current Spell Vamp percentage but that makes it possible to fully charge Essence Theft with only one skill.
I always cast Fox-Fire in between Spirit Rush dashes to increase my damage output. They also ensure the Essence Theft proc even if you start at zero charges.

Skilling Order

Ability Sequence

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

Playing Ahri means laning mid very often. Usually, you will meet another ranged carry in mid lane so you have to depend on Orb of Deception because of it's long range and good harass. It should be maxed first.

Of course, skilling Spirit Rush whenever you can is also a top priority.
I prefer skilling Charm at level 2 and leave it at skill level 1. Fox-Fire's damage shouldn't be underestimated and can save your *** sometimes - so I max it before Charm.

Early Game / Laning Phase

In current meta game, there's usually a solo top lane, a solo mid lane, a duo bot lane and one jungler in early game.
Ranged AP Casters are preferably going solo mid lane so that's where Ahri belongs.

Pulling/Leashing

Many junglers need help in the beginning (they usually start at Blue Buff which spawns at 01:55). Do so by attacking their targeted monster with your Orb of Deception from a safe distance and leave for mid lane to get there before the first minion dies.

Good junglers will start at the Wolf camp, which spawns at 1:40, close to the Blue Buff. In this case they will need you to deal some additional damage to the wolves.
Wait for the jungler to make the first hit and throw an Orb of Deception and maybe one or two physical attacks and leave the rest to your jungler. It is important not to kill a single monster and to give all the exp and gold to the jungler.
Then pull Blue Buff as explained above.

Last Hitting

Do not auto-attack the enemy's minions. Only last hit them to collect the gold before they die.
Pushing your lane is bad because it'll get you closer to the enemy tower and make you much more vulnerable to ganks. Your jungler is going to hate you for pushing the lane, since it makes it much harder for them to gank your lane.
Consider warding the enemy Wraiths camp and steal them when you have the opportunity. Kill your own jungle's wraiths camp when your jungler is not around to kill them.

Harassing

Harass your enemy from a safe distance with Orb of Deception. This skillshot is not very hard to dodge so use it cleverly.
Missing your skillshot often results in loads of wasted mana. So observe your enemy well: How are they moving?

If your enemy is dumb enough, it won't be hard to kill them even before you get Spirit Rush. Otherwise, harass them to low health and deal the finishing blow with Spirit Rush.

Early game with Ahri can turn out to be a bit tough because of the lack of mana so don't spam your skills mindlessly. Harassing is not your number one priority - farming is. Only harass enough to keep a good balance between farm and pressure on your enemy.

Recall for shopping

Try to stay in lane as long as possible - even when your opponent recalls or dies. (Don't forget to call M.I.A./SS when they are nowhere to be seen.) While they might buy an item or two, you'll farm loads of EXP and gold.

A good time to recall is when your own tower's safe from any harm and when you have farmed enough gold to buy a new item - either Doran's Ring for more sustain or Sorcerer's Shoes for burst damage.

When to start pushing the lane?

It depends ... sometimes you just go back and forth between your tower and the enemy's tower without any kills or chances to attack their tower. You'll have to endure this phase and wait for a turning point. It's best when a team member comes to gank your lane.

Some enemies will push you back into your tower on purpose which is bad.
Killing creeps under your turret is a lot harder and it will keep you busy while the opponent leaves to gank other lanes. Immediately push back in these situations!

If you want to roam a lot and gank other lanes, you should be the one pushing instead. Ahri is a great pusher and an amazing roamer so if you feel like you won't get many kills out of your lane OR when the other lanes need your help --> push your lane back, go kill people in other lanes!

Warding

Do yourself and your team a big favor by buying 1 or better 2 sight wards, whenever you recall (if you have enough gold). Then ward the brushes in the river to your left and right OR the jungle exits. This can save you from sudden ganks.
Buying sight wards is expensive but it's also important. Every ward can be an escaped death - isn't that a great deal for only 75 gold? :)

Ganking other lanes

It's good to leave your lane for ganks when you already have your two Doran's Rings and Sorcerer's Shoes and pushed the lane as much as possible.
A successful gank is great but even when you didn't get a kill it's still good. Let the enemy team know, that they have to look out for you and force them to play defensively.

Ganking needs some practice because you need to land your Charm before they get away. If they do escape, stay with your fellow team member and take down the turret before you leave (unless your team mate needs a longer laning phase).

Always leave for your mid lane immediately when your turret is (or is about to be) in danger.

Mid Game / Late Game

The laning phase is over, several outer turrets destroyed and team fights are ringing in the start of mid game.

Team Fights

Even though Ahri is pretty strong in mid and late game, she shouldn't be fighting at the very front. Stand a bit behind and throw Orb of Deception and Charm to deal damage from the back rows. Your team should be doing additional damage and tanks should be tanking.
You shouldn't leave the team fight or die until the very end. So play it safe!

The enemy will try to retreat as soon as your team is about to win the team fight. This is where your Spirit Rush comes in. It is your job to kill all the fleeing enemies on low health or at least slow them with the help of Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Fox-Fire/ Spirit Rush.
Double/triple kills ahead! :D

Blue buff

Crest of the Ancient Golem (20% cooldown reduction and tons of mana regen), commonly known as Blue Buff or just Blue, is great for almost anyone - especially AP casters. Ahri doesn't depend on the buff but having it grants you a chain of possibilties.

You can spam your skills without having to worry about mana at all

Since you're smashing all your spells into the enemy team's faces, they'll be perma-slowed through Rylai's Crystal Scepter

You can get this buff by either killing the Ancient Golem yourself or get the killing blow on it. It also transfers to you after you have killed an enemy with blue buff.

Killing neutral monsters is a bit of a pain for AP Casters in early levels so rather ask for help when you want to get it. Many junglers need the blue buff themselves in the beginning but a good jungler will give it to their team members, when they don't need it anymore.
A very nice jungler will give it to you constantly from level 4 onwards which wins you the upper hand in lane and surely pisses off the opposing mid laner.

At level 10-12 and onwards it will be easy for you to kill the ancient golem yourself but always ask if it's okay for you to take it.

Consider stealing the enemy's blue buff in their jungle if it's available. It's very risky though, so don't go alone when you don't know the exact location of all enemy champs.

Apart from getting the blue buff you shouldn't stay in the jungle for too long. Chasing enemies in jungle is tough and risky due to the many paths, walls, brushes and the fog of war - leaving your team at an disadvantage. Ahri can jump over most walls with Spirit Rush or Flash to escape or chase enemies.

Practice your skillshots

Seriously, do that! Mid and late game offer the best opportunities to practice skillshots and clever positioning. Landing skillshots isn't easy but you'll only get better if you keep trying.

Here are some tips:

Watch where your enemy is running and cast your skill shot a little ahead of their way to catch them.

Learn how the enemy moves, observe them well so it's easier for you to predict where they're gonna run next

Be creative and experimental! Shoot into Fog of War, over Walls, etc. You'll soon feel as though you're having full control over your skillshots.

Defending towers/base

Keep an eye on your remaining towers and keep pushing your lanes when there's no team fight.
If you see enemies targeting your tower, go there immediately but hug the tower as long as it stands. Don't go in alone, Ahri can't take on two enemies at full health and under normal circumstances.

Mid and late game is all about teamwork. There isn't much that a single champion can do alone, it's more about moving together and using good team strategies.
Gain as much experience as possible during these phases and keep using your skills the way you've learned before.

Recommended Starter and Early Game Items

Step one: Starter set

Starting with these is never wrong, that's why they are in the standard item build. Early mobility makes dodging spells, kiting and farming a bit easier and the Health Potions help you stay in lane long enough.

The only downside is that you lack damage and mana regen but that's not as bad as it sounds because harassing or killing is not your top priority in early game! Can't say that often enough.

This method is very underrated in lower ranks but a standard procedure in higher level games. Doran's Rings have the full kit for laning phase: damage, mana regen and HP. And they are cheap! Stacking them makes you so beefy that it easily turns around the situation in mid lane.

So here's the rule:
Whenever you have the feeling that you're not winning the lane, buy a Doran's Ring. If one is not enough, buy another. Repeat. Sell them all in mid/late game.

However, in some games, I just don't buy any Doran's Rings at all. When ...

Sorcerer's Shoes

These shoes are the key to early burst damage and also provide the needed mobility for dodging and roaming/ganking.

Every champion starts out with a natural 30 Magic Resistance = 23% reduced damage from magical damage. The 8.55 Magic Penetration from Greater Mark of Magic Penetration in combination with the +20 Magic Penetration from Sorcerer's Shoes result in 0% reduced magic damage for your enemy --> lots of burst damage for you.

Kage's Lucky Pick

This item is needed for building Deathfire Grasp.
I like to buy the the kage's lucky pick component fairly early because it provides gold per second and a little extra AP.
The longer you have this item the more gold will it collect for you so it's good to have it around for a while before you eventually turn it into a Deathfire Grasp.

Recommended Final Item Build

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Abyssal Scepter

This item used to be extremely underestimated but many players have finally found its full potential.
In the past, almost all AP carry players would choose to buy magic penetration relatively late (usually a Void Staff) because not many people would stack magic resistance in early game phases. Most AP carry champions are still equipped this way.

There are some mages like Ahri who can choose to build magic penetration early by building Abyssal Scepter as their first big item, though.

Abyssal Scepter has good damage stats (additional 70 AP and +20 magic penetration AURA) and a very strong 57 magic resistance. Getting Abyssal Scepter as your first item will not only improve your damage significantly but it will also make your opposing AP carry's skills a lot less painful.

Since Abyssal Scepter's AURA range was reduced to 600 (down from 1000) there are not many AP carries left who can use this item effectively because their skills would be out of range.
In fact, all of Ahri's abilities are out of range.

It is true that harassing your opponent from long range will most likely not trigger the +20 magic penetration. Still, the +70 AP and the +57 magic resistance are not part of the AURA so they are a permanent enhancement!

Also, when you're out for a kill, you would usually make use of Ahri's assassin skill Spirit Rush which gets you very close to your opponent.
Once you've jumped to their face, the UNIQUE aura with +20 magic penetration will take effect.

In a nutshell: Theoretically, most of Ahri's spells are out of Abyssal Scepter's range but practically you will almost never use them from as far away as possible. Ahri is an assassin and your killer combo will always get you close enough to your enemy! That's why Abyssal Scepter is still good on her.

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Deathfire Grasp

Here goes formerly underestimated item number two. Deathfire Grasp has some nice extra utility and is (along with Athene's Unholy Grail) one of the best cooldown reducing items in the game. Of course, +80 AP is also great.

This item's UNIQUE active is good for initiating a fight and works miracles when used against tanks and other characters with a lot of health.
When you have Deathfire Grasp, always use it's active early so you can deal as much damage as possible.

Rabadon's Deathcap

You need this item because it will boost your damage output immensely!

Zhonya's Hourglass

This item is not so popular with beginners (I'm not sure why ... maybe they underestimate the active) but it is in fact a true lifesaver! Oh yeah, and once again, additional AP.
Also, additional armor which is sweet because normally AD carrys will be pretty deadly in late game.

Using Zhonya's Hourglass's UNIQUE active will put you in stasis in which you are immune to absolutely everything!
Being immune at the right time can not only save your life but it can also completely turn around the situation.

There are a lot of clever ways to use the stasis like making your enemies waste all their ultimates on you while you simply don't give a ****. Afterwards you can either kill them or escape.

For starters, I'd say that you should just keep experimenting. Use this when you're about to be focused or about to die and you will soon get the feeling for the right time to go into stasis.

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Rylai's Crystal Scepter

+500 Health is a great bonus for even more survivability and +80 Ability Power for more damage.

However, do not always build Rylai's Crystal Scepter as your final item. Especially the sixth item slot is great for adapting to the game's circumstances.

The Situational Items section will help you choose the right alternative items!

Situational Items

Make use of the TAB button on your keyboard as often as possible and check each champion's items. Which items are your team mates building? And more importantly: which items are your enemies aiming for? Then, adjust your item build to the situation.

Mercury's Treads

Why they are good:

Magic resistance in early game makes laning phase less hurtful

Tenacity helps against CC

Mobility is good for roaming/ganking

When to buy:

When laning against LeBlanc so her immense burst becomes less effective.

I'll explain this much: Since percent MPen is being applied after flat MPen, Sorcerer's Shoes' 20 flat MPen becomes very insignificant. It's better to get some Magic Resist and Tenacity yourself through Mercury's Treads.

Morello's Evil Tome
I'll be straight forward: This is a noob friendly item because it's easy to use (spam ALL the spells!). It's not useless but there are other items which exceed the damage output reached through Morello's Evil Tome. I think that this item is not worth a whole item slot as it doesn't grant enough usability.

Useful Links

Closing Words

____I've worked on this for a very long time and put a LOT of effort into it. If you like this guide, please vote it up and/or leave a comment. Would be awesome.

____Please don't downvote my guide because you don't agree with some of the skilling/item choices I made. I'm not voting down other guides for that reason either because I know that there are many ways to build a champion (but instead discuss their choices with them).
Don't hesitate to ask questions or give suggestions/corrections instead.

Patch History

Fox-Fire:
Damage reduced at later ranks to 40/65/90/115/140 from 40/70/100/130/160.
Ability power ratio increased to 0.4 from 0.375. Spirit Rush:
Damage reduced to 85/125/165 from 100/140/180.
Ability power ration increased to 0.35 from 0.3.

Spirit Rush:
The allied HUD indicator will now remain green until all 3 spell casts are used.
Cooldown between casts increased to 1 second from 0.75.
Cooldown increased to 110/95/80 seconds from 90/80/70.

2012/06/07
- Guide had a complete makeover with new graphics and some colours for extra pwettiness~~ Brb, puking rainbows.
- Corrected some typos and wrong grammar.
- Minor changes in the descriptions.

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!